By Harrison George |
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt">The reasonably well-informed and observant visitor to Thailand will need about 10 minutes to stumble across one of its paradoxes.</span></p>
By Harrison George |
<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt">You have to give it to the lads of Internal Security Operations Command.<span> </span>When it comes to sniffing out reds under the bed, they have few equals.</span></font></p>
By Harrison George |
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">My first rude awakening of this year came very early. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">I had no sooner nodded off after the last rude awakening of 2008 (the fireworks, the ship’s horns blaring from the port, and all the other noisy New Year palaver), when a smell of burning wafted over the house.</span></font></p>
By Harrison George |
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"">Hats off to Deputy Prime Minister and Chief Government Paranoid Suthep Thaugsuban for boldly revealing what we have suspected for so long.</span></p>
By Harrison George |
<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt">Many years ago, the BBC invented, for the benefit of their radio news readers, a thing called a ‘cough button’.<span> </span>Pressing on this button would temporarily disconnect the microphone, freeing them to make coughs, sneezes and assorted guttural hacking noises, without destroying the myth that BBC staff not only had mellifluous tones and impeccable accents, but also perfectly functioning vocal tracts.</span></font></p>
By Harrison George |
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif""></span><br />
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif""><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">Spokespersons for the Israeli government repeatedly claim that, in a sincere attempt to avoid civilian casualties, Palestinians living the Gaza strip are sent telephone warnings to leave their homes.</font></span></p>
By Harrison George |
<p><font face="tahoma,arial,helvetica,sans-serif" size="2">As the number of deaths resulting from the Palestinian offensive on the Israeli enclave approaches one thousand, with half a dozen Palestinian civilians killed by home-made rockets fired by Kadima militants, the international community is intensifying its efforts to bring about a cease-fire.</font></p>
By Harrison George |
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt">Here are the answers for last week’s quiz questions that may have ruined your holiday peace of mind.</span></p>
By Harrison George |
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt">The following questions are designed to test the efficiency of your intelligence and memory.<span> </span>A high score indicates that you suffer from a chronic inability to distinguish between the important and the trivial.<span> </span>A career in journalism or politics beckons you.</span><em><span style="font-size: 10pt"><span> <br /></span></span></em></p>
By Harrison George |
<p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-size: 10pt">The scene: A suite in the Pullman Hotel one evening last week.<span> </span>An MP is being escorted to his room for the night.</span></em><span style="font-size: 10pt"> ‘Get you filthy hands off me.<span> </span>I’ve got some important business to attend to.’ ‘Yes, sir.<span> </span>We know, sir.<span> </span>And Mr Newin says you can attend to it just as soon as you’ve voted tomorrow morning.’ ‘You can’t lock me up like this.<span> </span>I’m an MP for heaven’s sake.<span> </span>I know my ri-’<span> </span></span></p>
By Harrison George |
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt">So another Constitution Day has come and gone.<span> </span>Just as constitutions themselves come and go.<span> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt">But while most people just enjoy yet another December holiday, the fact that December 10<sup>th</sup> is Constitution Day for Thailand tends to overshadow the fact that it is International Human Rights Day for the rest of the world.</span></p>
By Harrison George |
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma">The horrific and deadly attacks on hotels, a station, a Jewish centre and other sites in Mumbai have led the media to call this episode India’s 9/11. <br /></span></p>